Midnight Stars
by lovingpink
Summary: It was October 9th, 2107. Aveline Valerie Swan was just a regular teenager... until her father died. She and her mother has moved to Forks, Washington and she is attending a new school. She suddenly met the Cullens especially Edward. Was it coincidence?
1. Chapter 1

Everyone was silent. I couldn't imagine anything worse. I hate silence and it made the blood rush to my face. I felt myself flush, unable to do anything. Walking slowly down the hallway, I heard my name being called. Suddenly, all the silence disappeared and loud sounds were heard from every direction. I had spaced out again.

I was new to this school in Forks. Here, where I was standing, was the last place I would imagine that we would go to. My mother and I came here for better pay at the hospital. Dad died last month. Suddenly, we couldn't afford our house and payment. I moved here when school had already started three months ago. It was November 9, 2107.

So, I turned to see Lauren Mallis running up to me. I nearly ran for it, because Lauren was the last person that I wanted to see at the moment. She was almost the most popular girl in school, except for Torrance Callaway. Lauren had her wavy hair that was cut to her shoulders. She was very stupid, but nice. Her grades were almost always C's or D's. She couldn't help it, getting spoiled like that. Torrance was another story. She was smart, but she put her brains into everything but school.

I have only been at this school for almost a week. Lauren had been by my side since then. Although her brains were not really there at all, she had a heart. She was always complementing me on my looks. Almost everyone did. That was why Torrance Callaway hated and still hates me.

I almost never talked at school. I was always gloomy as ever. I just let people judge and say things about me; showing my personality wasn't going to happen in this school. I had nothing to do here, if anything. They would ask me questions and I would always shake or nod my head. There was no point in talking here.

"Hey!" Lauren shouted across the hall, "Aveline Valerie Swan!"

I stopped and waited, not making a single sound.

"Hi," she managed to say, out of breath, "I brought you something."

She handed me a card, getting excited. I sighed and opened it. It was an invitation to a party... again.

"So?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Lauren, but I really can't," I said.

"Oh," her hopes were crushed... again.

"I've got to go to Biology," I said with no expression.

"But, Ava, this is a chance to make friends!!! Puleeeez?" Lauren begged.

"Maybe next time, Lauren, but I've got plans tonight," I retorted, leaving.

I didn't know why I got so down sometimes. It must have been because I just moved here and that Dad died last month. I would feel like I wanted to attempt suicide, but then I would think of mom. I've never felt like this before: empty, down, and sad. I was always spacing out everywhere.

Walking as fast as I could, I rushed to Biology class. We had basically been taking notes since I was here, so there was really nothing to do with socializing; same with most of my other classes, except for P.E. In P.E., we were just learning about volleyball and how to bump it, serve, and spike. I stepped into room 14 just when the bell rang. Panting, I sat down at my seat and avoided anyone's eyes that were staring at me.

I figured that we were going to be assigned lab partners today and sighed. I hoped that I wasn't assigned to anyone that was too talkative and off task. The teacher started calling off names:

"Avril Lachnose and Eileen Lynn; table one." A girl with black, spiked hair and another girl with long, blond hair walked to table one.

"Alice Cullen and Dave Willass; table two." One girl, a strawberry-blonde, grimaced in distaste as she went over to a boy that went up to her shoulders.

"Aveline Swan…"

I clenched my teeth together.

"…and…"

I looked around.

"…Edward Cullen; table three."

I froze; Edward Cullen? He was Alice's brother, right? From Lauren, I had heard that he was probably the best-looking guy at school. He was not short or extremely tall. His face was designed perfectly, as if he was just meant to be swooned over. His personality did not fit his description. I had heard that he was very was cold-hearted. He had made his last year's lab partner cry because he was always saying things that were mean or not talking.

_She must have been trying to flirt with him,_ I thought, _every girl in this school is probably fighting over him. Lauren said that no one ever got so close to make him smile before. _

I saw him come over and stand over me. He was really good-looking. Cute, with his dark hair and a smooth face, but his eye's were very disturbing. They were coal black, and it startled me because it felt like I was falling when I looked into them.

Snapping out of my trance, I quickly took my books in one hand and my bag in the other and trailed behind him to table three. It seemed like all eyes were on us, even though the teacher was still calling out names. I felt myself flush and look at my feet. I concentrated on my sneakers and the ground.

We sat down, next to each other, behind Alice and Dave. Alice turned around and waved, smiling. I forced out a smile, not reaching my eyes, and waved back solemnly. Resting my head on my hand, I watched nine more pairs of partners sit down in different spots. Alex Lee and Max Terris sat behind us.

Max Terris was the most popular guy at school. He was the second best-looking guy at school. He was very full of himself and had a humongous ego. Still, all the girls who had given up or is double-timing on Edward Cullen were also in love with him. He had a very big dating history, and anyone would know it. Alex Lee was just some guy who totally admired Max and would trail after him everywhere during school.

When I turned around, Max smiled, smugly, and took on a pose by leaning back and putting his feet out on the table in front of him. I turned around in distaste, grimacing. Well, at least Alice seemed to be nice. She was Edward's sister, but they seemed so different. I dared not look at Edward, but it was really easy to pick up a conversation with Alice.

I looked at the clock and it read 9:45. The class ended at 10:30 and then it was break. I twisted my mouth, something that I do when I'm frustrated; it's a habit that I have. I would just have to live and survive the rest of the school year in biology.

"Okay," Ms. Connar clapped her hands together, "today, we will examine lipids!" she was obviously excited, "You will have to use this chart and, with your partner, see if your substance is a lipid or not," she passed out sheets of paper, "also, you will have to identify your substance of what it is."

I literally froze. That meant that I had to look at him AND talk to him! I can't do that! That's just… just…. I felt my heat race when I turned my head, slowly, around with my body following. I edged to the right of my seat to sit as far from him as I could. My mind was screaming in protest when I took a sharp intake of air and spoke to him.

"So…" I didn't exactly know what to do next, so I just stared at my worksheet.

I looked at him and saw that he was looking back, and quickly darted my eyes away from him. The color rushed to my face and I knew that I was blushing furiously. With my heart racing, I picked up my pencil and started writing my name, date, and period. Then, I was trying to think of something else to do, but not succeeding at all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him reaching for the weird-looking things in the test tubes. He smeared it on the worksheet and handed it to me. I took it and did the same.

_Calm down, _I told myself, _Don't let him do this to you. There is no way that you're going to get scared of him, stupid!_

As if it were natural, my body reacted by slowing down my heartbeat and releasing the tension in my muscles. The sweat on my forehead dried, instantly. I exhaled with no expression, whatsoever. Taking the other test tubes from him, I smeared the rest on my paper.

Suddenly, I felt a small tug in my brain. Something didn't seem right; there was a pulse in my mind, telling me that something was happening that wasn't normal. This never happened to me before, so I really didn't know how to rid the feeling from my head. I mentally put up a barrier between my mind and the tug. Then, everything felt alright.

As if responding to my mental wall, Edward flinched next to me. I looked at his face. It showed confusion, but quickly returned to a solemn, straight face. I was perplexed, but said nothing about it.

_Okay, act normal. Don't do anything stupid, _I thought to myself.

"Hey," I said, "hand me the paper towel, will you?"

He gave the roll to me, and I ripped off a piece. For a sixteen-year-old girl in high school, acting like this took a lot of effort. Dabbing at the substances on my chart to make it dry, my mind started going back to what I was thinking before class.

_Father._

My eyes became wet when I remembered how he had really died; Leukemia. He died of the sickness, inherited from his mother.

I started labeling my chart. I didn't even know what I was writing. I just wrote whatever came to mind, so that I would just have something labeled under the substances to look like I was really doing something. Tears began to well up, so I blinked them back. Why did I keep on remembering my father?

Edward looked at my paper and, unexpectedly, reached over and took it. He erased my labels and put the correct ones in. I sheepishly saw what I had written before he erased it. His faced turned frustrated again, just as I felt another tug in my mind. This was on the opposite side of my brain, so I put another mental barrier there. His features darkened when I did so, and I was starting to get a bit freaked out.

Putting up barriers on all four sides of my brain, I started breathing a bit faster than normal. Putting up the mental walls in my mind consumed a lot of my energy. Alice turned around when I was looking down. I saw out of the corner of my eyes. Edward shot her a look that I did not understand and she nodded, her face also dark. Then she glanced at me and smiled like nothing had happened.

I was most confused. Then, the bell rang, signaling break. I slid my worksheet into my binder and collected my things. Stuffing them into my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and stood. Suddenly, my legs felt weak and stiff. I stumbled and caught myself just before I tripped. Edward seemed to notice. I smiled, hesitantly, at him and walked, carefully, out of the room.

When I reached the doorway, I was greeted by a pat on the back from Alice. I nearly fell, but I caught myself just in time. I was still panting a bit, so I grabbed the doorframe for support. I didn't even know what the tug in my mind was. I had never felt that before and I was a bit scared of what it might have been; maybe a disease? Well, maybe not. I had never before read anything about a disease that made you feel queasy and weird in your mind. No, it felt like someone was trying to make it happen and I had a pretty good idea of who it was. Edward Cullen. Flinching every time I put up a barrier; it was pretty obvious if you were in my position.

"Hello!!" I was snapped out of my thoughts when Alice's voice rang out into my ears.

I jumped back a bit and greeted her with a small smile that never reached my eyes. I was trying to think about the possible things that Edward was doing to cause a tug in my brain while keeping up the four barriers. Every time there was a tug, I would grow a bit more tired; I came to conclude that.

"Aveline," she said, with a smile, "why don't we hang out together during break?"

"Um, sure, I guess," I said with what sounded like uncertainty in my voice. Why was Alice asking me to hang out with her? She usually hung out with just her family, right; Alice, _Edward_, and three others. I couldn't recall their names, so I just called them the "three others" in my head. They seemed like a gloomy group… that is, except for Alice.

I walked next to Alice and down the hall. I decided to stay silent, as usual, and wait for her to talk… if she was ever going to.

"So," Alice started up a conversation, "I see that you are lab partners with Edward."

"Yeah," was all that I managed to say, since I had no clue what she was getting into.

"Aveline?" she suddenly stopped, turning around to face me.

"Yeah?" I could only think of the only word that came to my mind.

"What do you… feel about Edward?" She asked.

"Alice, what are you trying to get into?" I asked, fully confused. If she was asking me if I liked Edward… as in, had a crush on him, then the answer would be a "no", but she didn't say it.

"Aveline… I mean… what do you think about him? Don't care about the fact that he's my brother. Just tell me what you think," Alice said.

I didn't know why Alice was suddenly hanging out with me or why she was asking me these questions, but I guess that I could answer them, "I think…" I started, racking my brain, "that he's very… erm, very alone… in a way. What happened to him?"

"Aveline," Alice started.

"Ava," I muttered under my breath.

"Ava," she corrected herself, "He had a very important person in his life taken away from him. She was like his life and my best friend. She and him were always together; in the school hallways walking to class, at her house, at our house… it was the happy times of our lives," Alice sighed, a quaver came into her voice when she spoke her last sentence, "But now she's gone."

"What do you mean?" I asked, not really knowing the meaning of _gone_.

"I mean," She said, "that she's _dead_."

"Oh," I said, feeling ashamed of asking the question. I never knew that it would lead to this. Having someone important pass away was a painful fact that we all have to face at some point of our lives. Mine was in my early points of my life. I guess the Cullens' too.

Alice noticed that I was uneasy, so she decided to change the subject, "So, Ava, you want to come over after school today?"

My mother wasn't going to be home until the next morning, and she wouldn't even know if Ava was home or not. We always had fights, and the only time that we really got to see each other was the five-minute gap between her sleeping and going to work, eating breakfast. My mother worked at a hospital that I didn't even know the name of. It seemed like a pretty famous one, though. She had said that she would get better pay of she went to work there, but our time together grew less and less.

In a way, I thought that it was pretty good to just have most of the house to myself. Mother was a nurse and I was the home-alone kid. It was the same, even if father was there or not, because he would be working, too, and would only come back after twelve.

My mother was either asleep, or at work. She slept from three O' clock in the morning to seven O' clock in the morning. Then, she would get up, shower, and eat breakfast until seven-thirty. Then, she would go to work until the next morning at three.

Alice saw my hesitation and asked again.

"Do you want me to go over?" I asked her.

"Yes!" she said, excitedly.

I said that it was okay if I went over and she went crazy. I didn't know what we would do, but I hoped that it wasn't anything weird. I wasn't in the mood since last month. Alice asked me to hang out with her during lunch, too, and I said that it was okay, too.

_So now I'm hanging out with the Cullens, _I thought, amused, _Well, I guess they would understand my situation better than Lauren…_

For history, I noticed that there were more strange tugs in my brain. I looked around to see Edward Cullen seated three people behind me. Nearly falling off my chair, I regained my composure and didn't dare to look back again. I could never remember the dates that things that happened, so I just secretly wrote down answers, coming out of the textbook.

I went to my History and my Literature class next and doodled in my notebook. For my literature class, there was nothing different; just my regular class and loud noises coming from the teacher and the students. I just basically sat there, doing nothing except for the worksheet in front of me.

After Literature, it was lunch. I went up to the lunch line and decided not to eat, so I wandered around the cafeteria until Alice found me and dragged me over to the Cullens. I was nervous because maybe Alice wanted me to go over and hang out with them, but _they might not_. I was most nervous about sitting at the same table as Edward. I never, ever wanted to see him again.

"Come on!" Alice urged, feeling me resist, "They won't bite!"

"Um… Alice? I'm not so sure-" she sat me down between her and Edward and I lost my voice. I tried to hide by putting a lunch tray in front of my face, but Alice grabbed it from my hands and introduced me to everyone. I forced myself to say "hi" to everyone and then lost it again.

"Ava is coming over this afternoon," Alice said, cheerfully, flashing her eyes at Jasper, a very tall boy.

"Yes," he joined in, cheerfully, "It'll be much fun, but we would have to do homework first."  
Alice jabbed him in the ribs. He winced and she giggled. I smiled, thinking of what my family used to be like, but my face fell right when I remembered that it could never be like that again. Jasper saw the sadness in my face, so he seemed to do something by closing his eyes and concentrating on something behind his eyelids.

I felt a wave of peace rush over me. It was a seemed like another energy, and I got frightened, thinking that it was someone else trying to do something to me like that weird tug in my mind. I strained my body and repelled it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper's face turn into a perplexed expression. I started to wonder; about why both Edward and Jasper were like that. Whenever I felt a weird feeling in my mind or body, I would try to repel it and they would have a reaction to that. It seemed as if they were the ones who were doing it. Were all the Cullens like that? I couldn't be sure, because it was only Edward and Jasper.

I suddenly realized that straining my body put out even more energy. I was feeling a bit light-headed, and I came to the conclusion that the tug hurt and left me breathless. The energy, in the other hand, made me tired. Together, they would wreck my body.

"Ava, are you alright?" Emmet, a big guy sitting in front of me asked.

I wiped my forehead and smiled, a bit tired, "yeah, I'm alright…. I think."

"Are you alright or not?" Alice asked, not taking the "I think" as an answer.

"Yes," I confirmed, sounding more sure than I thought.

Just then, I noticed that the table was empty; besides the people sitting around it, there was nothing on it. It seemed weird because when she was with Lauren, there would be large piles of food on the table. Now, she thought that it was a good thing that she had decided not to get food, or else she would be the only one that was eating. Why didn't they eat?

I was just getting all frustrated when the bell rang. Thankful of the good timing, I said, "see you guys later," and ran off to my other classes. Then, to my dismay, I saw that Edward was in all of my other classes that were after lunch. I started freaking out. If any of those tugs get into my head again, I think I would have maybe fainted or something. I decided that I would figure out what in the world was happening when I was at the Cullens' later this afternoon. Now, I would have to decide on whether I want to play volley ball, or say that I was sick.

I decided that I didn't want to play volley ball because the ball was probably going to get attracted to my face and I would end up getting hurt anyways. As I was about to raise my hand, I started hesitating. I've been telling him that I was not feeling well since the first day of school. I didn't think that I should tell him again. Still, I was wondering if I should or shouldn't.

"'Sup, Ava," came this cool-toned voice from behind me. It was Max.

I just stared at him funny. He could very well tell that we were in P.E. and was just standing there with my hand half-raised. What else could I have been doing? So, I decided just to shrug.

He suddenly came up and put his arm around me and asked me in a low voice, "hey, there's a game tonight. You wanna come watch me?"

I didn't know what to say. Yes, he was cute and all. Plus, he was the most popular guy at school, but I didn't even care about him and it sounded like he was asking me on a date. I didn't want to go on a date with a complete retard! I was about to tell him to get a life when we started volley ball.

_Too late, _I thought, _darn, and I was actually going skip this class; I hate you, Max._

I scored most of my team's points, even though I barely play; that's how much they really sucked. Had not Max suddenly decided to join my team, we could have won, but he kept on bugging me about the game tonight and I couldn't concentrate. Glaring at him, I had told him to "shut up" and he decided on his own that I was going to the game.

I noticed that Edward was not concentrating on his game, but on something else in his mind. His face seemed kind of sad. I saw a flash of grief go over his face before he returned to his usual, blank face. When he saw me staring at him, I couldn't take my eyes off his.

His coal-black eyes were deep and dark. It was as if it was telling me something that I did not understand at all. It was boring into my eyes and it felt like my eyes were being gorged out. I couldn't feel anything and I was numb. Then, everything went black.

"Aveline?" I heard a voice call my name. It was my P.E. coach.

I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the gym floor. I wondered what had happened because the whole class was surrounding me. Sitting up, I felt a bit dizzy and put my hand on my head. I realized that I had gotten hit by a volley ball and it was all because I had stopped looking at the game and started looking into Edward Cullen's eyes.

Just at the thought of it, I shivered. It had felt like nothing that I had ever felt before. His eyes looked like an endless tunnel into darkness and torture, forever going on and on. I shuddered again and stood up, seeing that everyone was looking at me and my reaction.

My coach said that I should sit down and rest for the rest of the period and asked for someone to accompany me. I looked at him because I didn't know an adult that would make a teenager be escorted for five feet. But, I just wanted to sit down and think things over at the time, so I didn't argue.

"Edward," he said, as the name sent chills down my spine, "Please do sit down with Aveline until the end of the class."

I stared in horror and Edward came over and asked if I needed help getting up or not.

"No!" I practically yelled.

The class stopped in their tracks to turn and look at me.

"I meant that I didn't need help… er, getting up," I said, embarrassed as I got up and went over to the bleachers.

Sighing, I sat down and put my head in my hands. I was greeted with the familiar tug in my mind when Edward sat down next to me. I inched away and felt the tug grow stronger, as if responding to my not putting up the wall. I put of a barrier with a lot of my effort and it left me a bit light-headed.

Edward saw me sway a bit and held me at my arm. I jumped as I felt his hand touch me. It was as cold as ice and goose bumps rose from my arm. Pulling away, I put up three more barriers on each side of my mind so that there were no more tugs. He had his face covered with the shadows under his hair and I could tell that he was concerned about something.

"Uh…Edward?" my voice was quavering and I willed it to stop.

He looked up, making it easy to see that he was answering.

I had meant to ask him what was wrong, but couldn't find my voice. My breathing grew faster and my heart jumped to my throat. I couldn't get the words out of me. I felt a tug on my brain.

_That's the second one… another one, and I might faint again._

I was reminded that during science, the tugs came in as two. It left me so I could barely walk, and stumbled around before I could do anything about it. Three might be even more painful. Each little pull came with a sharp pain at the end of it. I noticed that the first second one hurt more than the first.

As the second one came in, I knew that it was Edward; I just knew it, but… how? And why was he doing this to me? Didn't he know that it was painful? Did he ever do it on somebody else? Is this how he made his last years' lab partner cry? My face darkened as I thought these questions and I came to the conclusion that I would find out, somehow. I would just figure it out…. Somehow.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, you guys, sorry for not updating. Eh-heh, I was kinda watching too much Anime and not being able to finish my homework in time. sorry if this chapter is a bit short; my mom doesn't let me use the computer that much anymore cuz she doesn't want me to watch so much anime. Sigh I'll just go on anyways. Lol, sorry again.

Ave

* * *

"Ava, over here!" Alice called to me from her silver BMW. 

From where I stood, I could see Alice, waving her arms at me, and calling my name. I really didn't feel like going to her house; it was too sudden. I mean, we just started hanging out together at break, today. Usually, it would take a month or two. I guess, with Alice, she gets overexcited and does this.

It took only seconds for me to walk over to her and get shoved into the car. We waited, because Alice said that they had went to school together, today, and that we were going to wait for everyone to come. I had hoped that everyone did not include Edward, but I guess that it couldn't be helped.

At first, Alice and I were just talking about some random girl talk. I found this to be interesting because I had not talked so freely in what seemed like centuries. Well, it was really a month or so, but it felt really nice to be saying things and knowing that the other person understood. For the first five minutes, she was talking about what we were going to do at her house and how we were going to have so much fun.

I was forgetting about everything that had happened to me over the past month and just almost enjoying the conversation. The smile still didn't quite reach my eyes and it would quickly disappear. Alice was noticing and saying how much better I looked when I smiled. This made me flush and I didn't know what to say back. She laughed at this and started babbling again.

Soon, Jasper arrived. He sat next the Alice, in the front seat and also started talking to me. It was just in a nice way, though. I smiled, closing my eyes so that Alice wouldn't see that it didn't make it to my eyes this time, either. Jasper smiled back and turned around, waiting for the rest of them to come.

Edward came next. He sat down to my right and faced out the window. I sighed and did the same to the other window. I had decided that I would start hating him, so when I turned around and saw him staring, I gave him a cold glare and turned away again. This left him a bit frustrated and I was very triumphant about that.

I saw that both Alice and Jasper were looking at us with concern on their faces. They looked at Edward and seemed to feel for him. They looked at me and saw that I was also looking at them. Giving me a smile, Jasper turned away. Alice mouthed "later" and smiled. I didn't know what she meant, but I didn't want to hear it. I was a bit disturbed that Edward was so cold.

It was my first time ever meeting him, personally, and he acts like this. In my mind, I was screaming, but then I felt my mental barriers weaken. Quickly, I calmed myself down and felt my energy drain from me. I had realized that this would be harder than I thought. Plus, I didn't even know what was tugging or using that energy that flowed through my body.

_Edward and Jasper _were the two names that popped into my head first. I didn't notice Rosalie and Emmet come in; I was lost in thought. Edward was doing something to my mind. I couldn't imagine what it was. He was just… doing it; Jasper, too. It frightened me at the thought that they were trying to do something to me that I couldn't even imagine.

The car started and we sped down the road. I suddenly felt all stiff and tired. A tug was in my mind. A wave of calm washed over me. I strained my body to the fullest and my head fell forwards. I almost fainted if I had not pinched myself at the last moment. My wavy, brown hair hung loose at the sides of my head. I could feel sweat beading my forehead.

As we picked up the speed, I noticed that everything outside was passing in a blur. I was pretty used to fast-driving cars, though, because of the times when father was still alive and when we would sit in the ambulance many times. We sped down the road and turned a corner. I nearly collided with Edward, but, thankfully, I didn't, because I grabbed onto my seat and saved myself from doing so.

"Alice, do you usually drive this fast?!?" I asked, a bit breathless of not just the speed of the car, but everything that happened today.

"Oh," Alice seemed to be remembering something and the car came to a sudden stop.

The momentum nearly sent me flying forwards if I was not still gripping my seat, tightly. I leaned forwards abruptly and my sudden weight on my right ankle twisted it. I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again when the pain had settled. Looking up, I saw Alice with an apologetic look on her face.

She started the car at a slower pace now; maybe 65 MPH. In a couple of minutes, we arrived at their house; it was amazing. The Cullen's house was three stories high; not counting the attic or basement. It was grand and beautiful, painted white, with grey shingles. There would be a different color every now and then on the tiles; it was a pattern.

I tried to get out of the car, but there was a sudden sharp jab at my right ankle. I remembered that I had twisted it earlier. Trying not to limp, I jumped out of the car, balancing my weight on my left foot. Everyone didn't seem to notice anything, so I thought that I was okay.

Having a sudden memory rushing to my head, I remembered that the strange tug in my mind was not there anymore. I slowly released my barriers and felt nothing. Sighing in relief, I walked to the front door with everyone else. I carefully walked with my right foot, but was shifting my weight to my left.

Eyeing me, Edward passed me and strode into the house. I followed closely behind Rosalie and was almost knocked down by the splendor of the interior of the house. It's luxurious furnishing and decoration was breathtaking. I closed the door behind me and saw Alice motion for me to come forwards and into the kitchen.

I went to her and found myself facing two adults. I assumed that these were their parents. They couldn't even pass for over thirty-five and they had children who were already in high school. This surprised me the most because they could not have possibly have had children at such a young age. The most they could be was eighteen to nineteen years apart.

Alice, then, introduced me and then, hurriedly, dragged me upstairs, to her room. It was huge; a master bed and everything looked so expensive and beautiful. It looked like one of those two-room hotel suites. She sat down on her bed and patted the space beside her. I went over and sat down next to her.

"So," she said, "What do you want to do?"

I shrugged, not feeling like giving her an answer.

She sighed and got up to open her closet door. It was a walk in closet that looked huge. She pulled out a beautiful, blue dress from one side of the place and handed it to me. I looked at her, questioningly.

Thirty minutes later, I was sitting on a chair in the bathroom and Alice was putting all kinds of make-up on my face. By the time "dress-up" was done, I looked like a Barbie doll. Quickly wiping at the mascara in my eyes, I changed back to my normal clothes, letting my hair loose again.

"Aw! I liked that part, too!" Alice complained, willing me not to wipe my make-up off along with everything else.

I sighed and kept on the foundation, blush, mascara, eye shadow, eyeliner, lip liner, lipstick, and lip gloss. I seriously looked like an antique porcelain doll, if you asked my opinion. Alice was admiring her work as I looked around the room, featuring expensive furniture, paintings, electronics, and a whole bunch of other things.

Alice saw me looking around and asked if I wanted to have a tour around the house. I nodded my head, excitedly and followed her out of the room. On the way out, we met Edward, also coming out of his room. I tried not to look in his eyes, as not to have that one feeling that I had had when we were in the Gym.

The two of them seemed to be saying something. I didn't hear because they were muttering under their breaths. I looked at them and Alice smiled as if it were nothing. Then, as if it was to naturally happen like this, she said something about forgetting something.

"Edward, do you mind showing Ava around?" then she rushed away.

My eyes grew wide when I realized what had just happened. I was debating in my head whether to say that I didn't want to look around anymore or resuming the tour of the house. I didn't want to be rude, so when Edward started to walk, I followed him down the hall.

We stopped, right before we got to the stairs. We were standing and looking down at the spiraling stairway. He looked me in the eye and I wasn't quick enough to look away. He stared deep into my eyes. Then, it happened.

* * *

OOOHHHH!!!! Cliff-hanger! Yup, Grace is evil. R&R plz… and, oh, sorry for taking so long in updating. 


	3. Chapter 3

**YO! THANKS FOR REVIEWING! SPECIAL THANKS TO:**

**XXTWILIGHTFANATICXX**

**SMILE FOR THE PAPARAZZI**

**KATMEOWS4NO1**

**BELLACULLEN3554**

**Here's chapter 3! Enjoy!**

He stepped forwards and I stepped back. Forgetting that my ankle would give, any moment, if I shifted my weight on it, I put my foot down, hard. I missed the step, lost my balance, and fell. Closing my eyes, I expected a hard impact with the ground. Instead, I was suspended in the air, just above the floor. Looking up, I saw that Edward had caught me and had his arm looped around my waist.

I felt myself flush, uncontrollably, and quickly looked away to hide it.

_Great, _I thought, _now I'm blushing. WHAT. IS. WRONG. WITH. ME?! _

Then, realizing that there was something weird about how he moved, I froze and thought back: I fell… and he caught me. It was preformed in a matter of seconds. Was it possible for him to loop his arm around me waist that fast?

By now, my ankle was screaming in pain. I felt hopeless, being suspended in air, right above the stairway, and all. Plus, Edward didn't seem like he would let go in a million years, by the way he was looking at me and holding me. I hoped that he would. Just when I was about to ask him to let go, there was someone, clearing their throat, behind him.

Edward tensed, a bit, and I peered over his shoulder to get a better view at who was there. It was Alice.

"Ahem," she coughed, again, "Am I… interrupting… anything……?" she clearly looked as if she was about to burst out laughing by the way her lips were twitching.

As if on cue, Jasper also came up the stairs and looked at them. Edward and I were frozen; me, with embarrassment, and Edward, with… who knows what? We all stared at one another for a while, until Edward let go of me and we both stepped one step away from each other.

After that, Alice helped me limp back to her room, while Jasper and Edward disappeared to different places. After sitting down on the bed, Alice and I decided that we should start on homework. Both finishing our science reports, calculus AB homework, and a worksheet for history, I looked at the time.

I was surprised that it was only 5:37PM. I had expected it to be later. Although it was still early, I said that I had to go, because I didn't know when the Cullens ate dinner. If they did it early, I would have to be near Edward and Jasper… with their freaky things that they do to me and my mind.

I was a bit confused when Alice didn't beg me to stay for dinner. I mean, I wasn't pending on it; it's just that Alice has this… reputation that makes her seem like she would beg me to stay for longer, but all she did was give me a ride home and say "goodbye". I bid the Cullens goodbye and went home.

On the way to my house, Alice looked at me and I had a strange feeling that she knew that I was a bit uncomfortable. Okay, fine, anyone would realize that fact when I was almost tearing the hem of my shirt by tugging on it and darting my eyes from one place to another.

I, personally, don't know why I was all fidgety and nervous, but Alice started asking me questions and I replied them, uneasily.

"Ava," Alice said, breaking the silence, "What happened on the stairway?"

Wondering why the heck she asked me a question like that, I said, "I don't know; I guess I stepped on my ankle and almost fell, so he caught me."

I told her about the strange tug in my brain. Well, I didn't exactly tell her it, just straight-on. I worded it properly so that it would sound like nothing that strange, "I don't know how to say this, Alice…." She looked away from the road and then at me.

"Eyes on the road!" I reminded her, not wanting to crash into anything.

"Right, right," she muttered as I continued.

"I feel really…. Strange when I'm around Edward. There's a strange feeling in my mind when I'm around him…" I finished.

"Uhm… what are you getting into?" Alice asked, awkwardly.

_What ever could that mean..._ "ALICE!!" I yelled in realization, "I do NOT like your brother!!" I realized that that could be taken, wrongly, too, so I added "… in that way…"

"Okay, okay. No need to shout; I was just making sure," Alice said.

"Making sure of what?" I asked, as Alice winced as she realized that her wording was not quite right.

"Nothing, I said that wrong," she replied.

"No," I protested, "Tell me!"

"No, no," she mumbled, "it's nothing."

"Alice," I said in a quite, but firm tone, "tell me."

She looked away from the road and at me, again, but this time, I didn't tell her to shift back her gaze. Instead, I stared, deeply into her eyes, finding them to be the most different from Edward. Hers were a beautiful color of the ocean, but right then, they had a tinge of sadness in them.

"Tell me," I whispered.

She shook her head, our gazes not wavering.

"Alice, tell me," I whispered, again. This time, a bit more angrily.

She sighed, unable to hold back in denial any longer. Her eyes glanced at the road and then back to me. Opening her mouth she let out a single word, "Her."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Her. We loved her so much…. But she died," her voice trailed off and then she repeated, "…her."

At once, I knew what she was talking about. The person that died, and the person that every one of the Cullens cared about. I urged Alice to go on with my eyes.

"I wanted to see if you… if you..." Alice's voice went down to a whisper.

"If I…?" I repeated.

"_likedhimornot._" She mumbled, so that I didn't exactly catch the words.

"What?" I asked her.

"if you… _likedhimornot._" She repeated.

"Alice, I can't hear you!" I frowned.

"I said," she began, "I wanted to see if you _likedhimornot!_"

The words were too quick, and I couldn't hear them.

"What?" my stare boring into her's.

"I SAID THAT I WANTED TO KNOW IF YOU _likedhimornot!!_" I looked at her like she was going phsyco.

"Stop doing that!" I accused her.

"Doing what?!" she yelled.

That was it; I lost my temper and was sure that she was purposely doing that little mumbling so that I couldn't hear it.

"DOING THAT LITTLE MUMBLING OF YOURS!!" My voiced began to rise.

Her anger rose, too, "I'M NOT MUMBLING!!"

"YEA, YOU ARE!" I yelled.

The care screeched to a stop, in the middle of the road and Alice turned to me.

"Ava," she said, calmly, "let's not get into a fight!"

"Yeah, just tell me," I said, breathing hard.

"I wanted to know…" Alice said, "If. You. Liked. Him. Or. Not." She said, slowly drawling out the words.

"No, not really. He kind of freaks me out… a teeny, tiny bit… a little… OKAY, HE FREAKS ME OUT, A LOT!!" I burst, and then caught myself by clamping my mouth shut with my hands.

Alice looked a bit strangely at her new made friend. Ava, who was currently calming herself down of her recent outburst, didn't notice. Alice thought about the possible things that Ava meant by "he kind of freaks me out". In the worst case scenario, Ava had already been exposed to _their_ _secrets_. No, in the worst case scenario, Ava knows and knows what it is, right now.

_That's not good, _Alice thought, panicking, _that's not good at all; I need to get back, quick!_

She quickly dropped Ava off at her house and made a dash for her own. When she parked her car, she burst through the front door. She found the rest of her family in the living room.

"I think she knows," was the first thing that came out of her mouth. She spoke a bit nervously, although she intended to break the news, calm and composed.

The Cullens stared at her.

**SORRY!! SORRY!! I know this is short, but it's all I got for now. I promise you that I'll update soon, but IT'S NOT MY FAULT!! Until next time…..**

**Grace: so, what'd you ppl think?**

**Ava: very short, and why'd we yell at each other?**

**Grace: you mean you and Alice?**

**Ava: yeah, and we just got to know each other too. When do two people who just met, start yelling at each other?**

**Grace: oh, well, if you don't like it, do you want me to delete the story?**

**Alice: you always threaten us with that.**

**Grace: actually… that was the first.**

**Alice: oh, well, I see that in the future, you will do it a lot, okay?**

**Grace: sure, sure. **


	4. IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE!

**SORRY! I haven't updated in… forever. I promise to start writing soon, but you guys have to help me decide on something first!!!! I was planning to change some things up a little bit because I read through my previous chapters, and I know I could have written it better. I have it all planned out and stuff, but it all depends on you! Can you tell me if I should and leave it as a comment please? **

**Thanks a bunch :]**

**--Lovingpink**


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